A Post About Gaming
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In addition to my love for writing, I also have a deep love for video gaming. I remember playing the Super Nintendo as my first experience with them when I was very small, and I still have that same console all these years later. Since I was in diapers I’ve been playing video games, and it is still something that my family and I bond over and love spending time together doing. So over the years between them and I we accumulated many different games and consoles, though of course we suffered from the obligatory selling off of both to Gamestop for spare change, not yet knowing or caring about the value it all truly had or that one day we might want it all back.
There was also an unfortunate period where I had to sell off most of what remained of my collection just to pay rent. But in the years following I’ve been able to retain what I have built back up, and continue to snag an old game here and there, along with keeping up with most of the newest titles to release on Xbox and Switch.
Some of my favorite franchises on Xbox are the Gears of War series: Phasmophobia, the zombies mode in Call of Duty, Grounded, Expedition 33, A Plague Tale, Halo, Ark, Helldivers, Oblivion and Skyrim, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and DOOM, (just to name a few).
To list out my favorite Nintendo games is much harder, as I have most of their old consoles as well as new. But some standouts for sure are Smash Bros, Pikmin, Kirby Air Ride, Zelda, Metroid, and Donkey Kong Country.
There have been lulls where I didn’t play anything, whole years where I was busy doing other things, or my interest just simply wasn’t there. But recently it has brought me a lot of joy and stress-relief being able to pick up those old games on the NES or Gamecube, or to be able to try out the latest game to come to Game Pass. I believe strongly that my experience with gaming has influenced me greatly as a storyteller, and is a large part of why I enjoy writing stories. To see my own fantastical, impossible tales sprung free from the confines of my imagination is supremely rewarding. And along with all of the books I’ve read or movies I’ve seen, I believe it all has allowed me to be more creative, to take more risks with my writing, and to not be so boxed in to anything too one note, bland, or cliche. I’m always seeing new more inventive worlds, characters, and stories, which is exactly what I hope my books can be one day, something cool, fun, exciting, and fresh, something garishly and memorably imaginative.
I’ve recently been playing through the Metroid Prime trilogy in order to prepare for the upcoming 4th installment in the series, and I’ve been having a ton of fun reexperiencing them as an adult. Expedition 33 is another recent play for me, and while I haven’t finished it yet, it has managed to pull me into the turn-based rpg world of which before I have never been a fan of. In regards to the Switch, Donkey Kong Bananza is easily one of the best games of the year, and my sister and I have loved what we have played so far. It never fails that at least once every time we are together one of us will just randomly shout out “Ohh, banana!”. Kirby Air Riders is a sequel 22 years after the original Gamecube game released, and I’ve still got my copy of the first game, and still play it to this day, so the Switch sequel was the sole reason I picked up a Switch 2, and I have been in love with it. Black Ops 7 Zombies has also been a blast to play, and I’m nearing the end of being able to complete the easter egg boss fight, which has been just as thrilling as it has been time consuming and extremely difficult.
I didn’t grow up with an NES, so I haven’t played any of those games on the original console, but I have one now and it is definitely on my list to go through and play all the classics like Metroid, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario Bros. There just simply isn’t enough time in my day to get to everything I want to play, so I have to pick and choose which ones I’ll be giving time to each year. I think 2026 may be the year I dive into the NES (though I am intimidated by the old school formats of usually no save files and unforgiving gameplay). I’m not a gamer who plays for the challenge (normally) I just enjoy getting to the end of a game and seeing the full arc of the story.
